Is Bass Clarinet approachable?

I’ve always been a sax player, but I’ve become increasingly enamoured with the voice of the bass clarinet. I’ve always heard that it’s significantly harder to go sax->clarinet than clarinet->sax.

Is bass clarinet approachable to learn as a sax player, without learning Bb clarinet first?

Are there any particular student models I should keep an eye out for? Any ‘gotchas’ to look for specifically when looking at used bass clarinets?